Even a Hero Needs Someone to Believe in Him
by cyberfrogX
Summary: Future AU. Harry was framed for several crimes a few years back and very few people believe him. How will he fare in a world where both the Ministry and the Deatheaters are after him? Ch.5 up, Rated for violence.
1. The New Life

Harry hid in the small ally way, cloak clutched tight and body pressed against the wall. Sweat raced down his face; how far had he ran? Not knowing or even caring anymore, he sighed heavily. All that mattered to him was getting away from the dark magicians that pursued him. He concentrated; three dark auras appeared through the wall, still a good fifty feet away. Badly, he wished he still had his wand; he wished he hadn't failed her…

But the time for wishing was up; he would have to do with whatever wandless magic he could perform. He had to get back to the ministry, not that they would help him, but they had his wand, and her. He would need both if he was to stop these deatheaters from going through with the plan he had just witnessed.

Not that he had meant to stumble upon the little coven of wizards, it just sort of happen as a result of escaping the aurors sent to capture him. They only managed to take his wand, and her. 'Damnit Harry' he though, 'stick to the task at hand.'

He checked on the dark wizards again, only twenty feet away. He still couldn't believe they would pursue him all the way into this city, which was supposed to be protected by aurors. Of course though, they did have a lot of pride in themselves, they had managed to frame Harry for many crimes already, and the worst part was that the majority of the public, magical or not, now believed him to be a criminal. She was his accomplice, allegedly, and Harry felt bad that she had to get tied up in all this; she actually had a career that she was doing well at. He just hoped she was cleared of the charges.

An alarm went off in his head; Harry looked toward the entrance to the alley and saw a dark form standing there. Harry was glad he grabbed his nightshade cloak before escaping the ministry; they had been dumb enough to leave it out in the open after all. The cloak covered him entirely, and comfortably. It didn't necessarily make him invisible but allowed him to blend in with the night, and gave him an aura that made him seem inconspicuous. That made it hard for anyone to find him, and if they did, it was even harder to think he was the one they were looking for. A thief would love this garment.

After a while the deatheater left and Harry sank to the ground. He passed out quickly, and to anyone who passed by he was but a worthless bum.

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Hermione sat in the uncomfortable room, waiting to hear what they had decided. She thought the trial had gone rather well, she had managed to convince many of the attendees that she had not helped, nor had any reason to help Harry Potter in his 'evil' plots. Of course she had lied to all their faces, she fully intended to help out Harry as soon as she was able.

They believed her for one reason; she was one of the best spell researchers any of them had ever known. Her prowess at manipulating and developing the power of any spell or curse was respected by all, and she would play an important part in ridding the world of dark wizards, at least they all thought so. Of course she would, but the most powerful spells she had discovered, she could barely use. She only knew two people who could master them, and one of them was the very creature she fought against.

So, for couple years she had been teaching Harry these spells, of course Harry had 'conveniently' left his wand at home on that night they were caught. He had fought valiantly wandless, but the twenty prepared aurors were enough to eventually take him down.

An auror walked into the room. "They have decided to release you, but you will be under close watch" he said glaring at her. She just about laughed in his face. Harry and Ron had just about beaten the fear of rule breaking out of her while at Hogwarts, and she had been helping the 'fugitive' Harry for a couple years now.

As she walked out, Hermione could feel the presence of her personal 'protector'. Poor guy wouldn't know what hit him, literally. She was walking down the hall to the room were they were keeping the things they had confiscated from Harry and her. She looked around the table, her wand and some other personal effect of hers resided there. Harry's wand was sitting at the end of the table.

'How did they get that?' she wondered. Only the auror and she were in the room, but she did an enchantment anyway, filling her eyes with bright blue energy and quickly searched the room. There was a weak enchantment over Harry's wand, but that was all.

She turned around and smiled at the auror politely before punching him in the throat, and quickly knocking him out with a charm. Quickly walking over to the table, she easily wove a hole in the protective enchantment on the wand and picked it up, replacing it with an illusion. She wove the spell back together and then meandered her way into the auror's memory.

His surface thoughts were filled with pictures of the attack that had just happened. She warped all of these images, and when the auror woke up he thought he had fainted. "I am very sorry miss, that's never happened to me before" said the auror, completely confused.

"That's okay" said Hermione looking around, "it is really hot in here anyway. Well, I'm leaving; you should probably stay here and rest."

"No madam, it's my duty to see you safely home," and he did just that. The only problem she had with this is that he never really left. She could still feel his presence just outside for most of the night, until she fell asleep.

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Harry awoke the next day feeling terrible. He had slept nine hours in a cold, dark alley. Pulling himself to his feet, he left the alley. Looking around, he again thought of what he needed to do. He needed to do three things today: find out what had happened to Hermione, get his wand back, and maybe break Hermione out of prison.

He walked down the street a way before deciding he needed some breakfast. Stopping at a nearby restaurant, he ordered a couple eggs, and some toast. If this was going to be a taxing day, Harry would need his strength.

After breakfast he caught a bus going uptown, where Hermione's place was. He hoped she had gotten out of trouble. He still had to get his wand though, couldn't fight a pack of deatheaters effectively without it yet. Besides, the few powerful spells that Hermione taught him could only be used with his wand thus far. Standing across the street from the building that Hermione lived in, Harry examined it surroundings, trying to find any sign of the aurors he knew would be there.

After ten minutes he noticed a pattern in the way a particular man walked. He started at one end of the block and walk right around to the other, going inside a shop for a minute, and then retracing his steps back to the other side. 'Only one!' Harry thought, 'this is an insult.'

Harry Potter, the man who had inherited the powers of the most powerful dark wizard in modern history, only got one auror. This had to be a mistake, but he could sense no others. Maybe she wasn't here anyhow, and this was a trap. No, there was nothing out of the ordinary about the building, save the massive enchantments on Hermione's living quarters.

So he decided to bite, and if it really was a hook, well, they wouldn't catch him again. This time he was prepared, for anything except to actually have no problems at all. He changed his features slightly so that no one would recognize him, and walked toward the building.

The auror looked at him briefly and walk right on by. Harry walked right into the building with a smile and no one ever knew.

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Hermione was brushing her teeth. The auror was still around, and judging by his aura, bored out of his mind. She just walked out of the bathroom when there was a soft knock at the door. She stopped, and quietly moved closer to the door. The knocks continued in a soft rhythm. They spoke the only thing Harry knew in Morris Code, "Harry Here, Let Me In."

Hermione smiled as she opened up the door. "Hey, thought you'd never answer" said Harry.

"Well, do I know you?" she said trying to hide a grin.

"Where is my wand," Harry said bluntly, looking around, trying to ignore the stupid grin growing on Hermione's face.

"Come in, and we'll talk stranger," said Hermione walking into her place with Harry following. "How did you know they took it anyway?"

"Because that was the first place I returned to, and nearly got caught again," said Harry.

"Well, its right here," Hermione said twirling it in her hand, "you know you shouldn't be so careless with this thing."

"And you should know better than to tell me what to do," Harry said, grinning at the frown on her face. He snatched at his wand but she jumped back.

"Now now, whoever you are, I don't just trust strangers without names," she was grinning now.

"The name's Evan Granger," Harry said mischievously, "don't you recognize your own husband?"

Hermione's face turned bright red.

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Well, this is my new idea, tell me if it's any good will you guys!


	2. The Investigation

Hermione stared at Harry, or rather Evan. "Just how are we going to explain that I suddenly up and get married?" less upset and more curious to hear what Harry had to say.

"Well, first off the paperwork will be easy; I've changed my name so many times that if it weren't for the newspaper I might have forgotten it. Second, we are in the middle of a war, no one you know will blame you for eloping, especially since you love me so much," Harry added this last part with a grin. "Lastly, Ron cannot know," said Harry with the most serious look she had seen on him in a while.

"Why can't he know?" she asked, confused.

"Trust me, we don't need him to know you got married," said Harry shaking his head. "Besides, the fewer people who know where I really am, the better off I'll be," his tone had lightened with the change in subject. "Oh, by the way, did you know about the auror outside this complex?" asked Harry.

"Yes, he has been there since I returned home late last night, I really wish he would leave," she growled, a disgusted look crawling across her face. Hermione really, greatly disliked the ministry, too bad they were the people paying her. She would have said she hated it, but all her hate was reserved for Voldemort, who had ordered an attack on her family house, killing her mother a year ago. She gazed around the room and her eyes rested upon the clock. "I really must be going Har… Evan, busy woman you know," she grabbed her daypack and headed for the door. Whirling around just as the door was closing, she blew him a kiss.

Smiling Harry turned around, the whole day too himself. He had better get working if he expected to remain under the radar, many letters needed to be sent out today. By this evening he had to create a whole new person, and make up a new life story. Harry grinned, he was almost getting used to this, and only if he didn't need to do it to survive he could really have some fun.

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"There", Harry said as he flopped down onto the couch. He had just finished his little integration into the world as Evan. In two to three weeks he should get his paperwork in the mail. Until then, however, he would have to keep out of trouble; that could be difficult.

He was addicted to the danger of being himself somewhat; either that or he had lost his mind. He decided to settle on the later. It was annoying not being able to live a normal life, but he wouldn't allow himself to be bogged down by those thoughts. Pushing them aside, Harry thought of what he could do next; maybe he should get a job, but he needed the paperwork first. No, what he needed to do was find out what Voldemort was planning in this area, Harry wouldn't be here otherwise.

It had happened a month ago, two days after he had foiled an assassination attempt on several influential muggles in Paris. A dream had come to him, like all the other times, detailing Voldemort's next target. This was the big one though; the ministry as he knew it was to be obliterated. The part of the plan Harry had overheard was quite brilliant, he would have difficulty countering such a force on his own.

Not that he cared about the ministry anymore, but Hermione worked there, and Voldemort himself was going to show up this time. The take over would be violent and abrupt, unlike the deatheater's first attempt. The dream had reveled that much to him, though he knew Hermione put no stock into premonitions of any kind. He would just have to keep his ambitions a secret for now.

"Well, a little nap never hurt anyone," Harry stated to himself. He stretched out across the couch and quickly passed out.

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Hermione had just finished the translation of the old tablets spell when a strange, thunderous noise shook the facility. Looking around worriedly she grabbed up the odd texts on the table and shrunk them to put into her knapsack. Another quake hit while she was climbing down the stairs to the first floor.

When she arrived at the bottom she could only see a cloud of dust. Crouching down, she scanned the room seeing only a robed figure here or there. When one of them moved close enough, fear rooted into Hermione's mind. They were deatheaters.

She slowly crept toward one of the emergency backdoors, and found herself facing a large group of the black robed wizards. She yelped in spite of herself and felt her body hit the ground as several curses slammed into her. "Hermione! Hermione!" she heard someone yell. She woke up on the floor of her room and saw Harry.

"You okay? I heard you scream and then I heard a thud, you can imagine what went through my mind," said Harry as he hugged her.

"It was just a bad dream, nothing to be worried about," she said softly, still trying to calm herself down. She was shaking, that dream felt so real. Then she looked at Harry, the last time he had stayed with her she had to take a very strong dreamless sleep potion to rest during the night. She had concluded that his nightmares were powerful enough to filter into the minds of those near him while he slept.

It was curious though, that his dreams always pertained to the future. She had no evidence of this of course; the only one of his projected nightmares she could remember was about something in Egypt, and she hadn't heard about anything bad happening there. Though, now that she thought about it, Harry had disappeared for three months after the dream.

She stood up, smiling at Harry to let him know she was aright, and walked into the bathroom. She still had plenty of potions to let her sleep nicely, and she took a swig. A little more than normally needed but Harry's nightmares were anything but normal. Crawling back into bed, she was asleep before Harry stepped out the door.

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Harry left the apartment quietly. Since the potion would knock Hermione out for a good seven hours, he didn't even need to worry about her knowing he left. Besides, he should only be gone for a couple hours. It wasn't like he was going to get into a huge amount of trouble… Okay, so he might, but he was sure he would survive, he always did.

As he walked through the street, Harry noticed that the moon was full. He took a deep breath before his body dematerialized and he was transported to a forest. Cautiously he ventured toward the area where he had come across the den of deatheaters, hoping he wouldn't run into a werewolf. At the entrance he stopped and looked about. After he was sure there was no one out side the entrance, Harry knelt close to the door. Reaching out with his mystic senses, he probed the door, finding a weak fortification charm, and then proceeded to reach further into the cave.

After finding only weak charms and enchantments, Harry physically entered the den. He kept to the main path, unraveling charms as he went, knowing that the side paths only lead to "interrogation" rooms. The room he needed to get to was the gathering place. Hermione had found a very old spell that allowed Harry to relive the recent events in an area. Having used it several times, Harry had managed to track down and destroy five of these dens in the last two years. Harry was glad good old Voldemort hadn't discovered how He was tracking the progress of the dark wizards. The wizarding world of Europe itself would have fallen into the hands of Voldemort years ago otherwise.

He reached the center room and almost passed out. Quickly backing up, Harry recovered from the chemical exposure, which curiously had no magical signature. He hadn't been prepared for dark wizards using muggle science as a trap; in fact Harry was almost certain that their master would never allow this. Hoping that this was a rebellious sect, Harry cleared the toxic gas from the room.

As he entered once again, Harry noticed several shrouded bodies lying all over the ground. Apparently this was the result of an experiment gone wrong. He took some comfort in the fact that it looked like the whole group had died as a result. He didn't need to start fighting magical chemists as well. All the same, as he sat down to meditate, Harry promised himself that he would check for this nature of trap in the future.

Chanting for a few minutes, Harry cleared his mind of everything until only the words he was saying were familiar to him. Slowly images began to form from several days ago. Everything seemed normal, for a dark wizard den. There were many evil people, doing evil deeds, reporting to their evil master. Then a couple days ago, they had taken a chemist prisoner. Before they had killed him, they extracted his memories so they could better understand what was written in a notebook titled "Common Deadly Chemicals."

Seeing as their magical alchemy didn't differentiate too much from this chemistry stuff, the deatheaters began experimenting. Harry's intrusion had come right about this time; several deatheaters hurried out of the room to chase after him. A few hours later they returned, angry looks populating their faces. That night they reported to Voldemort about all that had transpired. He was angry enough when they mentioned Harry had escaped, but he was furious about them working with the muggle chemicals.

After the report, beams of light shot from the dark lord's body boiling the chemicals in the room and destroying the beakers that contained them. Voldemort would have killed them all himself if the poisonous gases hadn't interrupted. The dark lord escaped, while most of the deatheaters passed out and died from exposure. One, however, escaped into a place Harry hadn't sensed before. Harry awoke from his spell to see a wand pointed at his face.

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Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy this chapter.


	3. The Escape

Hermione awoke feeling great. She took her usual morning shower, spent a few minutes disciplining her hair, and got dressed for another day at work. Upon leaving her room, however, she encountered Harry lying on the ground in shambles. His face was crusted with blood, his clothes were torn, and he was passed out in the middle of the kitchen.

"Harry!" she yelped and rushed over to him. He moaned something unintelligible before attempting to sit up. Opening his eyes, he seemed to be confused. "Harry… what happened to you?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Ugh, well," he started, "I went for a walk and, ugh, ran into some bad company." 'Understatement of the year,' thought Hermione. "Oh, and by the way Herm, its Evan," He said regaining his cocky grin.

Hermione shook her head and would have punched him if she was sure he wouldn't have passed out from it. Helping him to the bathtub, she washed the blood of his face and filled the tub with warm water. "You stay there for a while," she said strictly, taking his clothes and throwing them away.

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Hearing her pace back and forth outside the door, Harry knew he should start washing up. Last night was slowly coming back as he cleaned the dirt and blood from his body. She would want an explanation of course, and why shouldn't he just tell her? It's not like he would have to tell her everything.

The main reason he was here, namely Voldemort, could stay secret. He had run into that little cave escaping the ministry so it would seem to have no relation to the dream that he knew had invaded her sleep last night. How had he been shortsighted enough not to have her take one of those sleeping potions? Oh well, it's not like she would believe the nightmare would come true. At least Harry hoped she wouldn't. He really didn't need to have her buzzing around everywhere worried about the attack.

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"So, what happened," a fierce Hermione demanded. Harry had just finished getting dressed and was in the process of hobbling over to the sofa. Gently sitting down, he tried to find the words to start. "And no lies Mister," Hermione was giving him the I-know-your-thinking-about-lying-to-me look.

"Well, after your nightmare I couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to go for a walk," He began, wondering at how she knew him so well.

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Harry stared up at the crazed magician. Red eyes, tattered robes, and a shaky hand filled his visual perception. The deatheater smelled horrid, like her flesh was decaying. Squinting, he was sure it was a woman; it could be hard to see the faces under those hoods sometimes.

"Get up!" a feminine voice demanded. So it was a lady; her voice cracked with thirst and her body was trembling. Harry slowly complied, raising his body until he was standing at full height. She started to laugh, mumbling bits about how pleased her lord would be, and how he would forgive her. Harry took this as an opportunity to escape.

He dropped to his back, kicking a leg upward to knock the wand out of her hand. Stunned, she fell backward as her wand landed across the room, near the entrance. Harry was back on his feet now and had his wand pointed at her. In the midst of deciding her fate, he heard them. The howls echoed throughout the den, and the dark sorceress looked around quickly, her body tense with fear.

Hearing the beasts crawling down to where they were trapped, Harry tried to teleport back to the city, but then discovered, to his dismay, that the witch had cast an enchantment on him. He dodged the initial werewolf charge, which ended up tearing apart the dark witch that was behind him. The pack of wolves turned toward Harry. There were nine of them, far more then he had ever encountered together before.

For a moment they stood there, growling, and forming a half circle around him with the wall at his back. Harry took a deep breath; this was going to hurt. For a brief moment he wondered if he had been set up, then they were all over him.

They attacked one at a time, with a constant rhythm, there was hardly enough time between slashes and swipes to take a breath. A clawed hand shot toward his head, and he ducked while shoving a powerful leg out of the way. He managed to trick them into attacking each other a couple of times, but no serious damage was ever dealt. All the time he had been evading their assaults he had managed to shift toward the exit.

Harry threw himself through the portal, and managed to grab the witch's wand. Rolling back to his feet, Harry spun around and started firing random curses at the doorway the werewolves were attempting to claw through. Running backward, Harry eventually made it to the forest again. He attempted his teleportation technique once more, but failed. That curse was strong and he hadn't the time to undo it.

As he was sprinting through the forest, Harry could hear the howls behind him getting closer. Knowing he would eventually have to fight the creatures, he decided to pick the spot himself. The wolves were at home in the forest, and they could easily surround him in a clearing. He was losing hope just as an answer came into view. A swamp sprawled out in front of him.

Casting a minor spell, Harry ran across the surface of the greenish, murky water. When he reached one of the small mudded islands, Harry whirled around to see the wolves' approach. As they got to the edge of the water they slowed down significantly. For just a second Harry worried they knew what he was up to, however the wolves began to precede once their noses couldn't detect any danger apart from Harry.

The wolves were slowed wading through the swamp water toward him, growling the whole way. When they were all about waist deep Harry cast a silent charm on the water. Most of the wolves were caught in the freezing murk, but a couple managed to get out before it froze on them. These two monsters charge Harry, while the other seven fiercely tore at the ice encasing their lower halves. Dodging the first wolf, Harry was knocked onto the ice by the second. He slid quite a few meters before coming to a rigid stop at the base of a tree.

He lay there stunned for a moment while the first wolf skidded across the ice toward Harry's resting place. The wolf hungrily gazed upon his prize, picking Harry up and howling toward the moon in thanks. While it was doing this, Harry turned a limb of a tree hanging above him into a sword, caught it, and forced it into the wolf's shoulder. Harry fell back to the ground as the wolf jerked away. At about this time a few of the other wolves were close to getting free.

The wolf that had knocked him down was upon Harry as soon as the other had dropped him. Harry blocked one of the huge clawed hands while the other tore into his side. Gritting his teeth, Harry's sword lit on fire. He slashed at the huge creature's legs, cutting a tendon in one of them. Blood polluted the snow around Harry, mostly from the wolves. On top of all his other problems the enchanted ice was beginning to melt.

Harry stumbled out of the reach of the wolf lying on the ice, and turned to meet the other beast who was standing at its full height, and glaring at the stubborn wizard. It made to pounce on Harry, however, the ice under its left leg gave out and the wolf fell flat on its face. Harry quickly planted the sword it its back, deciding that he had no choice now but to kill them all if he wanted to live. Just as this wolf breathed its last, two others managed to break free of their icy prison. Burning the crawling werewolf near him with his wand, Harry turned to meet the new threat. The wolves slowed for just an instant, weary of the burning emerald eyes that seemed to light up the area.

As any maddened creature, however, their hesitation was only a brief calm on the stormy seas that were their minds. The rest of the beasts were free now, and the seven of them circled Harry, slowly, and just outside the reach of the burning blade. The wolf to Harry's backside suddenly leaped at him. Harry ducked, thrusting the blade upwards and through the creature's mid-section. Before the wolf hit the ground, Harry had cast curses on two others and pinned one more to a tree with the silver sword. Of the two poor creatures with the curses, one of them ripped itself to ribbons as little shards of wood crawled all throughout its body; it passed out from the blood loss quickly. The other wolf was busy fighting off an imaginary assailant, too bad for him that as long as he believed it was real it could hurt him.

The fourth wolf managed to slash Harry across his back before he cursed it. It turned to solid ice and shattered upon impact with the ground. Harry stood now with his bleeding back to a tree and the three remaining beasts in front of him, waiting for any sign that Harry would soon falter. However, Harry loved to disappoint his adversaries. He pulled out the witch's wand and stood with the two wands slowly moving between the three remaining werewolves. There was a howl of rage and pain as the other wolf fell back and pieced its heart on a fallen branch trying to escape its make believe opponent.

Grinning, Harry began firing random curses at the trio before him. He stumbled forward as they fell back and hid. However, the fear of death was a little whisper in these beasts' minds; they suddenly attacked Harry all at once. Only one of the hungry beast made it to him, the other two dead or dieing from curse overdose. The remaining werewolf torn into Harry's chest, shredding the shirt he was wearing and sending a worrisome amount of blood to the ground. The witch's wand had been slashed into quarters, and Harry's own wand now sported a force shield that the creature was slashing at.

The shield was wearing away when Harry felt the witch's spell lift from his body. 'You idiot,' Harry thought to himself, 'you should have destroyed the wand earlier!' Sending the werewolf a goodbye curse, Harry vision started to fail him as his body appeared in Hermione's hallway. Slowly he crawled his way to her door and let himself in. Crawling through the kitchen, Harry passed out.

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"And now I'm here, safe and sound, and in need of healing," finished Harry with a cough.

Hermione's eyes burned into him for a while. She seemed undecided about how to feel. "Well, I'm late for work, when I get back I want to see you still here resting, no more 'adventures' Evan." And she was off.

Harry lay back for a moment and enjoyed the quiet. Then his thought turned toward Voldemort, as they always did. He had learned very little from that den but perhaps the werewolf he paralyzed would still be there, and in human form. If he was lucky, the wolf would know something about Voldemort's plans. Harry stood up, he knew that if he had anymore wounds tonight Hermione would be more that aggravated, but on the other hand he was on the job. It's not like he was going to run into more werewolves. Harry knocked on the wooden counter on his way out just to be safe.

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Here we go, another chapter, exams are over for now so it shouldn't be too much of a wait for the next one. "knocks on wood" I have really got to stop jinxing myself.

Thank you, all my reviewers who seem to have more faith in me than I do. Such as stavros, Luna Rose and the Phoenix Child, Quillian, Hakkai, and Muirnin.


	4. The Snake's Coil

The deeply cloaked figure walked around the empty chamber, slowly examining the area. There were several scorched and cracked regions all around, signifying that there had been a battle since he had last visited this den. His right fist cracked with energy as he realized who it was. That damn kid was always in his way.

As he was about to leave, the dark lord heard talking outside the den. It was quite a distance away, but Mr. Riddle would recognize that magical signature if it were all the way across the city. That's how he had known Harry was in town days ago. Ever since then he didn't know whether he should go through with his plan or not. Being the feared Voldemort however, he would never allow that runt to spoil his fun.

When the two figures came into sight, Riddle stopped and listened. He could tell from their emotional auras that this was an interrogation. Harry was calm and stern in demeanor, but inside he was getting quite agitated. Tom laughed as he saw who Harry was probing for information. It was one of the werewolves he had trained himself. Apparently they had failed their mission; it was to be expected. When it came to Harry the dark lord had taken up a "if you want something done, do it yourself" outlook. He was more cautious now, however, since all but one of his Horcruxes was destroyed. Nagini never saw much action anymore, but that was the price to be paid for immortality.

Not caring to let Harry break the wolf's mind, Tom sent the death curse upon it. Harry teleported a few meters away as soon as he heard the words, like the good dueler he was. Harry didn't hesitate to throw a curse toward Tom before even looking up. Riddle was amused that Harry was so focused on the wolf that he failed to recognize the presence of his number one adversary. Harmlessly deflecting the minor magic, the dark lord took a couple gliding steps forward. The curse burned some of the flora growing around the area.

Now facing the most wanted criminal in the world, Harry seemed to hesitate a little. Tom laughed at this and they began circling each other. How would he put an end to this runt; that was the question running through Riddle's mind as Harry threw yet more of his useless curses. They circled each other for a while, casting minor magic and trying to find a weak spot in each other. Tom did notice that Harry was injured, but the boy was doing a damn good job of ignoring it.

Harry finally got sick of this and cast a charm that brought the forest to his aid. Tom faltered a second as tree roots and vines grabbed at him. Anger radiated form the dark wizard and a wave of death magic pored forth killing and withering all life around him. He was surprised to see that Harry had cared to look into nature spells since their last duel; he had used mainly fire and light magic then.

Of course, the last time they truly dueled was a few years ago, when Harry was eighteen or so. Tom remembered him barley escaping that duel with his life. Of course the red head and the mudblood had helped him. Now, however, to Riddle's great displeasure, Harry seemed to be much more able. Anger ceased him for a moment and Tom through several deadly curses at Harry that seemed to kill everything around the runt but him. The young sorcerer had placed an agility improving enchantment on himself. 'Damn' thought Tom 'He has gotten to be in pain. Though, it's only a matter of time.'

"Well Harry," Riddle said with his snake-like voice, "I'm glad to sssee that I'm ssstill going to be the perssson to kill you."

"If you're a person," Harry retorted, "Then I'm a chimpanzee."

"That'sss exactly what you are," shouted Tom, "along with the ressst of thessse worthlesssss humansss. You're all just a bunch of apesss with more brainsss than you know what to do with. Tell you what, join me and I'll make you more powerful than you'll ever be with them."

"How will you do that, I'm already stronger than you!" Harry yelled. Tom felt the magic from that yell. Like himself, Harry had used this break to cast a more complex spell. However, the runt had finished first. The ground beneath Voldemort's feet began to spit, and the whole area was quaking and ripping itself apart.

It was at this time that Tom had finished his own spell. Beams of dark energy shot throughout the forest, mutating trees and some animals that had hid in the nearby area. Even as the ground around their root broke up, the trees came alive as servants to a dark will. Their bark blackened, malevolent red eyes opened in their trunks, and the end of their branches sharpened. Voldemort was laughing as he levitated his body into the air; the ministry was going to have one hell of a time cleaning this up.

Harry levitated up into the air as well, burning any branched that got too close. He watched as the ground swallowed the trees and animals twisted by Voldemort's dark magic. A whole five acres now looked as if it had been struck by a meteor; the ministry was going to be all over this in no time flat. He glared at Tom, then followed Riddle's line of sight to where it met the earth. A few dozen aurors were surreptitiously heading in their direction.

Harry looked back to see Riddle glaring at him. "Well Harry, it looksss assss though we will have to delay your defeat until later. You look damaged enough assss it isss," Tom said noticing the bled through bandages Harry sported. Harry flew towards him, but Tom vanished before the young man could reach him.

Harry cursed his luck as he teleported back to the hallway in Hermione's apartment. However, he forgot all about his disappointment when he opened the door to find a very displeased witch on the other side. A finger immediately found its place on Harry's ear and dragged him in.

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The minister of magic watched as the aurors examined the area. Apparently a duel between two powerful wizards had occurred here causing the very earth to become unstable. David feared that if those two kept up this battle that they would eventually destroy the world. One way or another he had to stop them. He gazed around, feeling the magic now imbued into the area. They would have to disenchant this whole place; this was becoming too expensive of late.

After ministers Fudge and Scrimgeour had been killed a couple years back David was given the privilege of leading the ministry. He had a lot of support back then, but that was another time. Ever since he declared Harry an enemy of the ministry, some of the loyal wizard families had turned their back on him, the red headed Weasleys among others. It was sad that they failed to see what David saw; even if Harry was a 'good guy' his immense power would eventually corrupt him. On top of that the boy had committed crimes against the ministry. Little did David know, however, someone in their own ranks was framing the poor boy. David had lead an extensive operation after the 'Potter Interference Incident" years ago that freed the ministry of Voldemort's control. Many of Mr. Potter's loyal fans liked to put it in David's face that Harry was the reason the ministry was free. Even if it was true, it was mostly likely an accident; Potter was only ever after one thing.

David watched as the aurors went about cleaning up the area. They didn't have that big of a job; they could leave most of the damage as it was and just claim a meteor fell. The hardest part was getting the strong residue magic off of the area. They neglected to do that once before, and David promised he would never do so again. The results of that failure still haunted him. Sometimes he wondered if either of those he pursued had nightmares about the terrors they caused. David shook his head; why would they care about the life of average people; they were trying to kill each other. His eyes narrowed a bit, 'they probably treat this whole thing as one big, damn game. To the hells with them.'

He had to admit though, when he first met Harry he thought the kid was alright. Never did he seem to show any inclination toward the crimes he was now accused of. First it was destruction of property, which the ministry easily overlooked, but soon Harry was causing inadvertent harm to people and wizards with his duels. The moment Harry had been found to have murdered a man; the whole of the ministry went to find him. Harry, however, had taken it the wrong way, especially when an overzealous official mentioned "The Kiss". He vanished and his battles with Voldemort trickled to a slow stop. Of course, until tonight; now the ministry had a real problem. David shook his head; those two no longer feared the ministry's power, it seems they both reached their zenith and were ready to kill one another whatever the cost.

David slowly took one last look around before turning back to the city. He quietly hoped that the people here would be spared in the battles to come. Clenching his fists the minister vowed to protect the city once more; this was starting to become a habit.

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Tom paced across the great chamber in silence. The only sounds were of his breathing servants, nervously standing near the doors to the hall. Off in the distance there would arise a scream of pain or horror ever so often, making one of the newer deatheaters fidget.

Tom thought hard about what was happening. The kid wasn't your average wizard, that's for sure. However, he wasn't even close to having the experience Voldemort had in battle. Tom pushed the thoughts of the boy aside and focused on something else. His plan would have to be pushed back a couple days. A sharp pain flowed into those servants who were present as Tom thought about the incompetence of those deatheaters who had been looking into the muggle's science. Their only task was to create that damn potion and they had been severely distracted. It would take a good week to get back on track. By then Riddle planned to have Harry out of the way.

A grin erupted from his face as Tom remembered that Harry's female friend was in town. Maybe the dark lord would pay her a visit and see if a little bait could bring that worm out of his hole. Voldemort's eyes flashed red as a magic light began to envelope him. When the deatheaters could see again their master was gone.

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For those of you that care, I own nothing whatsoever to do with Harry Potter except the plot of this story.

Thanks to Hakkai-Gojyo-Goku-Sanzo, my only reviewer last chapter. I Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.


	5. The Belly of the Beast

Just as the sun was climbing into bed, dark minds were already working hard. Their dark lord had set up a new den some fifty yards from the old one. It seemed he didn't expect Harry to check over here again any time soon. Hert was always a curious soul, but he never had any good results when inquiring upon what his lord's plans were. Voldemort's ideas were usually ambiguous to the point of being insane. When one stopped to think however, it was hard to say that the dark lord was in fact sane to begin with.

It never mattered to Hert. Voldemort let him do whatever he wanted as long as it could lead to the eventual superiority of the lord himself. Hert mainly found his niche in planning and executing assassinations. This next plan was kind of like that, except it was a building instead of a single person. Hert guessed that may be why there were others helping him. Their first objective was to create the potion. It would allow them to bypass the exquisite magical shielding of the ministry headquarters. Of course, after that it was kill time. Hert just didn't know why they hadn't done this sooner... or why there were such a low number of assailants under his command... it would be rather difficult to get everyone as understaffed as he was.

The plan could work, however, they would just need to be careful. He had just finish a preliminary plan for who goes where, when a young deatheater placed a note on his desk and quickly left. Scared little runts, they could at least let him know who it's from. It had the dark lord's crest on it in any case. Hert opened the letter only to find it contained agitating information. Apparently Voldemort wanted certain people disbursed in a very specific manner. Hert threw away his day's work and began again. Sometimes the dark lord was more trouble than he was worth.

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Walking through the streets of the lit-up city, Harry was reluctantly following Hermione on his injured leg. She had been furious when he'd come back, and demanded an explanation. He had, of course, told her about his little fight with Voldemort and she had lost it. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure she'd had it to begin with. Not that it really mattered, sanity was for the less plagued minds of the world.

When they had left the building at such a late time, the auror guard had been suspicious and started to follow them. With a bit of intimate knowledge of the area however, Hermione was able to lose him without looking like she was trying. Harry chuckled a bit to himself, remembering the guards confused look as they had seem to just disappear without the use of magic.

"Where are we..." He started to ask.

"The pharmacy," she snapped, "and you're paying."

Harry groaned as she grabbed his hand to pull him faster. As they entered the store he noticed the clerk give him a questioning glance. Harry mouthed 'she's crazy' with the twirling finger motion as she yanked his other hand further into the store. As Hermione replaced the muggle first aid and healing supplies that he had exhausted, Harry walked into the candy aisle. "Well, if I'm buying I might as well get something for me," he mutterd to himself.

Harry managed to grab only one chocolate bar before Hermione stormed past, picking him up by the ear. "Ahhh! Dear God Hermione," he yelled out in surprise and pain. She silently dragged him up to the counter and practically stole his money to pay for everything. Turning around, Harry looked outside the door just in time to spot _him_.

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Tom reappeared across the street from the mudblood's flat. Trying a preliminary mystic scan of the area, he found the auror patrolling the area and a heavily enchanted flat a few stories up. Knowing that he couldn't readily peer through it, Tom searched for a few minutes, and he managed to find the weak points and open up a small hole in the magic fabric. Knowing it wouldn't last forever, he took a mental snapshot of the space inside. Nothing... no one was home, even at this late hour. 'Damn it,' he thought to himself. Raising a hand, Tom summoned some energy and a black-robed figure appeared. "Find him and watch him," Riddle commanded, "alert me as well, and try not to be seen."

"Yes my lord," said the figure before starting off into the night.

A bit frustrated, Tom teleported back to the nearest lair and lays down. It would be extremely easy to go forward with the plan if he could just get rid of that runt. 'The Fates must be on his side in this war, no one has ever thwarted me and lived to tell about it before.'

A knock at his chamber door brought him back to reality. "Come in" he growled, and a young deatheater entered the room. "Well, what is it?" Tom commanded, more curious than angry.

"My lord..." he said, "Hert has finished the outline of the plan..."

Tom's demeanor changed instantly and he laughed in a menacing manner. Seeing that this made the young man uncomfortable, Voltemort said "glad to hear it, bring it to me."

"Yes, of course my lord," The young follower quickly left the room to go get the plan outline.

'Well, things are starting to look up,' thought Tom. 'At least something has gone right today.' he waited for the young man to return and after a few minute the door opened again. The man slowly and silently walked over and delivered the scroll. Tom opened it up and grins in satisfaction. "You, my friend, will be in for a hell of a surprise," Tom said to no one in particular. "Take this back to it's creator and tell him to get the materials prepared," said the Dark Lord, "we will be enacting this plan within the week.

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The cloaked figure swiftly fell back behind the pillar, but Harry had already spotted him and was coming out the door. Pressing the tip of his wand to the dark mark on his arm, the deatheater jumped out from behind the pillar and threw a stunning curse at Harry. Harry waved his hand and the minor curse was deflected, destructing on the wall behind him.

"How do you know me?" asked Harry, holding his wand up, aiming at the wand of the deatheater.

"The girl... I was told you would be with her," said the deatheater, "I just assumed you had changed your appearance.

"Congratulations, you are smarter than the auror we evaded tonight," said Harry, discretely bonding the soles of the deatheater's boots to the ground. When Harry shot his own stunning curse at the deatheater, the other man fell over, unable to move his feet to dodge. Walking over, Harry placed his foot on the deatheater's wand-hand and pointed his wand in the pinned man's face. "Where is he?"

"Who?" the young man sarcastically replied. Hermione must have finally looked over towards him from chatting with the lady at the counter because there was a loud 'crack' as the door to the store slammed into the wall.

"What is going on here?" she demanded and Harry shook his head.

"This little rat was spying on us, I am simply extracting information," explained Harry.

Hermione looked around, exasperated, "well couldn't you make this a little more private..." and then she whispered, "muggles are watching." Harry looked toward the store to see that the lady at the counter was straining to see what was going on.

"Very well," Harry said smashing the deatheater's wand under his heel. "Come on buddy, lets make this chat a bit more private," He said; he grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him into a nearby ally. Hermione followed close behind, and made sure no one was following them.

"Alright friend, where is Tom Riddle? Where is your master, Voltemort?" asked Harry politely. The man spat in his face. Harry pushed him to the ground and kicked him a couple times. "I can be nice, or I can be mean, now give me the location." Hermione looked away after the second kick.

"Fuck off," squeaked the deatheater. He was obviously in pain, and there was a little blood seeping out from one of his nostrils.

"Okay, if you want it that way," Harry turned towards Hermione, "you have any sort of truth potion on you? Cause I'm out."

"Sorry 'Evan' I forgot to grab some while I was kicking your ass on the way out tonight," She said, giving Harry the eyebrow look.

"Just great," Harry sighed. Just as he was turning back to the deatheater, a green light filled the ally. Harry tackled Hermione to the ground as the green energy flew passed them and collided with the deatheater.

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." said a snake-like voice, "are you looking for me?"

Harry stood up and pointed his wand at the source of the voice, "decided to climb out of your hole again eh?"

"Oh, my dear enemy, you are the one that wasss in the hole, I sssimply chasssed you out," Tom said as two deatheaters appeared on either side of him. Harry looked behind him to see that Hermione was facing three deatheaters.

"Brought some backup eh Tom? Losing confidence in yourself are we?" taunts Harry, casting a silent shield charm.

"Oh no, I just want witnesssssesss to sssee me finally kill you," Voltemort raised his wand now, even with Harry's.

"Thrid death curse is the killer eh?" retorted Harry. Time stood still for a few minutes as the dark sky above began to cry lightly.

When it happened, both Hermione and the deatheaters were left in shock. Harry and Riddle both fired off two high-powered spells which collided directly to cause a strong shockwave. Both of the combatants managed to stand through it, but Hermione and the deatheaters were thrown to the ground.

Wanting to protect Hermione from Tom's power, Harry levitated himself up to the roof of the nearest building, launching curses at Voldemort the entire time. The dark lord followed, ordering the deatheaters to kill Hermione while deflecting the minor spells. When they were both standing on the roof, Voltemort grinned. "You better hope they can kill her before I get to her," he said evilly, "I have sssome great ideasss for torture that I have been dying to try out."

Ignoring that comment, Harry summoned a strong wind that knocked the deatheaters off their feet and threw Tom off balance. Then the young wizard charged at the dark lord, at blade of white light replacing the wand in his hand. Just as he reached Voltemort, Riddle teleported away. Grinning wickedly as he appeared behind Harry and threw a paralysis curse. Tom then summoned a golem from the brick wall on one of the building. Harry barely deflected the curse and looked over at Voltemort to see the ten foot golem join him.

"How about it Harry" said Riddle, "a good old fashion creation battle, what say you?"

The blade of light diminished until only the wand was left. "Very well," Harry replies evenly. He pointed his wand towards the sky. A vortex formed and starts to suck in all the nearby rain drops. After a couple minutes, the vortex disappeared and a large orb of water hovered a couple feet above the roof in front of Harry. The water formed into a humanoid shape with blade-like arms that froze into ice sickles.

Tom and Harry stood there for a second, sizing up each other. Then they lifted their wands and their golems charged. The brick golem punched one of the sickle arms and it shattered; ice shards landed everywhere. The other sickle arm slammed into the brick golem's torso, shattering and yet imbedding ice chunks into the brick. The brick golem recoiled from the blow and both the water golems arms reformed as giant hammers. The water golem charged again smashing the ice chunks further into the brick golem. Recovering, the brick golem punched through the water golems torso and it collapses into a pool of water.

"Well Harry," said Voltemort, "I guess I win."

Harry grinned, "not quite old man." Voltemort frowned. The ice shards, now buried in the brick golem, formed into water and saturated the brick golem's body, taking control of it. Turning towards its former master the brick golem charged.

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Hermione stood up as Voltemort levitated into the air and heard the charge he issued to his followers. They all started to circle around her. Griping her wand tightly, Hermione felt a change in the wind and voice in her head warned of strong winds. She grabbed onto the nearby metal latter for support. All of the deatheaters were thrown from their feet and collapsed.

The voice returned to her mind, telling her to escape while she could. Hermione started running towards the exit when she heard a few spells being cast her way. Dodging them, she turned around in mid jump and fired off a disarming and a paralysis spell before landing behind a dumpster. A few more curses flew past the dumpster harmlessly. There was a loud cracking sound and a few bricks came crashing to the ground with the rain. One of the deatheaters was knocked out by one of the bricks.

"Alright, there is one paralyzed and one unconscious... three more to go" Hermione said after peeking out from behind the large trash bin. In the dark of the ally she couldn't clearly see her opponents, but did have a general idea of where they were. As Hermione was thinking up a plan she heard a howl of wind above her and felt the rain stop falling. Realizing the deatheaters would be distracted by the change, she took this opportunity and jumped out from behind the garbage dumpster firing spells. Everything in front of her was covered in enchantments, including the two deatheaters that were caught in her blaze of magic.

The rain started falling again and Hermione let herself relax. She looked around for a bit and came to the realization that only four of the five deatheaters were incapacitated. She turned around to try and find the other one and did; as well as a wand in her face. "It's time to die you mudblood bitch," says the remaining deatheater as the wand began to light up...

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I'm disappointed that no one reviewed last chapter, and sorry this one took so long. I will write only as many chapters as I have reviews so, if you want more, review please.


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